You Can’t Serve Everybody, so Disqualify Most.
By Stuart Ayling, Founder of the Business Development Studio

Web content guru Gerry McGovern wrote… “Every time you serve someone, you make someone else wait.”

Gerry was talking about the investment in creating content for web sites.

He also said… “Every time you target a particular audience, you make another audience less visible and important. If you are trying to talk to 10 audiences on your homepage, you might as well be talking to none.”

The same holds for your sales and marketing strategy.

You need a sales message that is going to hit home with as many qualified prospects as possible.

And I mean ‘qualified’ prospects.

A qualified prospect is someone who has passed at least a few tests of suitability. At a basic level a good prospect will have demonstrated they have the funds to buy what you offer, have a need you can address (or a problem you can solve), and have the authority to make the purchase decision.

The problem is that there are too many unqualified prospects in your market. Too many people that either can’t afford what you have, don’t see the value in your services or products, or don’t have the authority to buy. They can easily distract you from dealing with prospects who are ready to move forward.

For you to make your sales job easier, you must use your marketing to disqualify as many prospects as possible.

That’s right, create your marketing materials so they repel people who won’t really be a good fit for your business.

That way the prospects you actually deal with will be more suitable, and more interested in what you have to say.

Let’s consider an example, your local accounting firm.

This accounting firm is forward-thinking and loves helping business clients to improve their business performance. They go way beyond the preparation of basic tax returns and doing compliance work. Consequently their fees are higher than other generalist firms.

If this firm was to promote general tax preparation services for end-of-year returns it would likely attract a lot of people who simply want a quick and easy (that means low cost) tax return done. These prospects are not interested in the insights our firm can provide. They don’t have a bigger picture in mind. They simply want a cheap tax return done NOW.

See the problem?

Our local firm must ensure their expertise and client-focus are emphasised in their marketing and sales messages to ensure the prospects who only want a quick tax return do not contact them.

This even includes the responses they give to initial enquiries over the phone. They shouldn’t apologise for charging higher than average fees. They need to focus on what their ideal clients will want to hear (about value, custom processes, insights) – not what the masses of low cost tax return clients want to hear.

Don’t be seduced into thinking “the more prospects the better”. Don’t waste your time on leads that have an absurdly low chance of becoming paying clients. It is not in your interest, or the interests of your prospects, to do so.

Your time is limited, and you need to spend it with people who really need and value what you can provide.

I know… some of you may be thinking:

“I’ve got spare time. So I should be speaking with as many prospects as possible. Surely some of them will turn into clients.”

But you are wrong to waste your time on just any old prospect.

A better approach is to use the time you are not spending with low-grade prospects to improve your marketing message and materials, including your sales skills.

That way you will ultimately attract better quality prospects, and be much better prepared to convert that enquiry into a sale.